Brief Summary

Evoxymetopon taeniatus, the Channel Scabbardfish, is a poorly known deep-water fish found in the western Atlantic and western Pacific Oceans. Inhabiting tropical to warm temperate waters, Channel Scabbardfish are benthopelagic, living on the slope and sometimes on the outer continental shelf. In the western Atlantic, they occur from the Gulf of Mexico and Bermuda to southern Brazil, including the Bahamas and the Greater Antilles. In the Pacific, this species has been collected from waters south of the Korean Peninsula. Little is known about the biology of this fish (Nakamura and Parin 1993; McEachran and Fechhelm 2005).

Channel Scabbardfish have an elongated, slender, and highly compressed body with a triangular pectoral fin, a reduced pelvic fin, and a small caudal (tail) fin. The dorsal fin consists of 81 to 88 elements. In contrast to the similar E. poeyi, the first spine of the dorsal fin is not elongate. Body depth is 8 to 9% of standard length (SL, length excluding tail). The upper profile of the head rises steeply from the tip of the snout to the dorsal fin. The nostril is crescent-shaped and located in front of the eye (the nostril is slit-like in E. poeyi). The mouth is relatively large and the lower jaw projects slightly beyond the upper jaw. The upper jaw has several fangs anteriorly and slightly compressed lateral teeth. The pelvic fin inserts slightly posterior to the pectoral fin base and consists of a scale-like spine. The anal fin is very short and posteriorly located. Channel Scabbardfish are silvery white with a slight reddish brown cast dorsally and several yellow stripes on the body. The anterior section of the dorsal fin is blackish. These fish are relatively small, ranging from 130 to 180 cm (maximum 200 cm) SL (Nakamura and Parin 1993; McEachran and Fechhelm 2005).